


take it and run

by Anonymous



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batwoman (Comic), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Bisexual Stephanie Brown, Canon Queer Character, Cassgender Cassandra Cain, Coming Out, Found Family, Gen, Lesbian Kate Kane, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Queer Character, Queer Themes, Wordcount: 1.000-2.000, to self and others
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25867198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Coming out could occur in a billion different ways, Kate knew. She herself had come out to herself when a half-drunk classmate had grabbed her at a party as a dare and kissed her. It had been different from anything Kate had done before. It was better. So much better.
Relationships: Batfamily - Relationships, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Kudos: 24
Collections: Fanfic Anonymous





	take it and run

Coming out could occur in a billion different ways, Kate knew. She herself had come out to herself when a half-drunk classmate had grabbed her at a party as a dare and kissed her. It had been different from anything Kate had done before. It was better. _So much better._

Sometimes, you could tell when people were queer. It was a sort of tick in the back of your head, was the only way Kate could put it. Queer people gathered, whether on purpose or just accidentally, and it was far more common to end up with a token straight in a group as opposed to a token gay.

And of course, some people wore it on their sleeves. Trans necklaces with their pronouns on it, pansexual patches on jackets, tattoo's with meaning, black or white rings. They kissed partners in public, had no issues with declaring who they were to the world, they were themselves.

Kate wasn't a shy lesbian, nor was she a loud one. She wasn't really big in the queer scene, didn't know all the identities, didn't know that certain questions were off-limits, but she was the designated lesbian aunt of the Clan, and she went to Pride sometimes. Mostly for the food.

But when Stephanie had appeared at her doorstep, Cass in tow, a week before Pride Month, Kate really found herself immersed into the queer scene. Because Stephanie had an announcement, and she didn't hesitate.

"Cass isn't straight," she said flat-out, even before Kate had invited the two in. And the older vigilante wanted to bang her face against the wall because it was common courtesy in the queer community. You _didn't_ out people. If they were out-out, then it was generally fine to tell people that. But if they were still majorly in the closet, then it _wasn't_ okay. Kate glanced around the (mostly) empty hallway, grabbed both Cass and Steph by their jackets, and dragged them inside her apartment.

"Okay, the first rule is," she declared, locking the door and turning to face the pair. "Don't out people without permission."

"I know that!" Stephanie huffed, crossing her arms. "You do realize I'm bisexual, right?"

And apparently Stephanie was coming out today. Kate sighed, running a hand through her hair. It wasn't like the blonde had hidden that, but Kate hadn't been sure if her comments had been Stephanie being a straight girl appreciating other girls, or someone who was queer being queer. And Stephanie hadn't indicated she was coming out anytime soon, so Kate had left it. Stephanie knew they all knew, that Kate was there. She wasn't going to ask them what they identified as they could come forwards.

"That doesn't make it better."

"Whatever. Cass isn't cis, but she's not _not_ -cis either. She says she's nothing. Help."

Kate rubbed at her temple. "Did you look online?"

"Uh..."

"Oh my god," Kate sighed, walking out of the living room to the kitchen, where her personal laptop was. The one that didn't have a bright red bat sticker. She grabbed ahold of it and went back into the living room.

Cass's feet were tucked against the chesterfield's arm, and Stephanie was on the edge of her seat, fingers tapping at her kneecaps, soft on her jeans. Kate huffed out a sigh, and threw herself down on the chesterfield between them, and opened the computer.

It turned on automatically, showing that Kate had been apartment shopping. Technically, she was trying to make a new safe house, since her last one had blown up, but nobody knew that. Kate opened a new tab and tapped the search bar with one nail. "Okay, describe?"

Stephanie considered, studying Cass for half a minute before she made her suggestion. "Don't have gender?"

That pulled up agender. Kate read-aloud for Cass's benefit. "Agender. Not having a gender or identifying with a gender. They may describe themselves as being gender-neutral or genderless."

Cass gave a head shake, thumb jabbing into her chest. "I’m me."

"Okay..." Kate nibbled at her lip. "What exactly brought this up?"

"Someone called Cass him on the streets last night, and their friend scolded them, I think they were drunk? And Cass just... didn't even notice they called her him until they started to argue."

"And this makes you think she's what? Non-binary?"

"Everything," Cass said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "I am me."

"Christ," Kate groaned. "You know, I've never dealt with a gender crisis before? All my trans friends already transitioned."

"You have trans friends?"

"Uh, yeah."

"No," Cass said before Stephanie could even open her mouth. "I'm me. Not..." she gritted her teeth. "I'm me!"

"Well, this isn't exactly a normal gender crisis, I can say that much," Kate said dryly, entering another search phrase. "So you're a girl?"

"All."

"Wait, back-up," Kate deleted her search, entering _more than one gender_ instead. That pulled up an article on transphobia, and Cass shook her head at the input anyways. Kate chewed at her lip, and slowly entered a new set of perimeters. _Don't care about pronouns._

"Cassgender," Kate read aloud, and Stephanie snickered. "Someone who feels that gender as a whole is inconsequential in their self-identity and is accepting to multiple or any pronouns."

"Me."

"That's ironic," Kate muttered, but imputed the new label in the search bar, and handed it off to Cass, standing up to get food. "Doughnuts?"

"Doughnuts?" Stephanie asked, pressed against Cass, who was holding her place on the article she'd found with a finger. Kate took one out of the package and waved it around.

"Coming out deserves doughnuts. Especially when you come out to yourself, I mean, wish I had doughnuts when I figured it out.”

“Doughnuts,” Cass mused, and Kate set the container down on the coffee table, grabbing her phone and heading down the hallway, towards her bedroom. She dialled with one hand, shutting the door behind her with one foot, and held her doughnut in her teeth as she opened the window.

Sitting down on the fire escape, Kate held her phone up to her ear, waiting for Bruce to answer. He did, relatively fast.

_“What.”_

“Nice to hear from you Kate,” Kate mocked, raising her voice a few octaves, just to piss him off a bit more. “How’s your day been?”

She dropped back to her usual tone. “Oh, it’s fine. Just talked to your eldest daughters, one of them came out as bisexual two seconds ago and Cassandra just discovered cassgender.”

Kate was aware that she was breaking her own rules of not outing anyone. But Cass didn’t actually identify as cassgender yet, and Stephanie’s way of coming out had indicated that she didn’t care that anyone knew. Maybe it was pushing it, but Bruce would be oblivious to his children’s orientations and genders until such a moment that somebody shoved it in his face, so she was going to do that for _them._

_“What?”_

“What?”

_“What did you just say?”_

“I’m going to guess that you’re asking what the fuck cassgender is because I didn’t know about it either,” Kate took a bite of her doughnut, letting the pause drag out. “From what I can tell, it means Cass doesn’t care what you call her. Pronoun indifferent, I think it’s called.”

_“Why are you telling me this?”_

“Because you’re oblivious, Bruce,” Kate rolled her eyes, taking another bite. Ugh, she hated powdered doughnuts. But the gas station hadn’t sold any other type, and she’d been low on cash and sleep at the time. “The only reason you know I’m not straight is because I kiss Maggie in front of you.”

_“Kate.”_

Kate sighed. “B, listen. I know you’re not the most hands-on parent, but still. And I know that I’m the lesbian aunt, but still. The fact that they came to me, probably indicates something. I don’t think Cassandra even knew what pronouns were until last night, from the way she was acting. And I know you don’t want to give the queer talk, but you gotta at least be aware that some of your kids are experimenting, you know that, right?”

_“I’m aware that Stephanie is interested in women, Kate.”_

“Oh good. Did you learn that by spying on her, or did she tell you?”

_“Hmph.”_

“Exactly. Just pay attention, is all I’m saying. And don’t tell them I outed them to you, Steph might just punch me, and she hits hard. I gotta go make sure that they’re not in the middle of another crisis, see you tonight. Bye.”

She didn’t wait for Bruce to answer, just hung up instead, and spent a few minutes outside, finishing off the doughnut. She could go inside soon enough; right now, she was going to let Cass and Stephanie Google themselves to high heaven. She could deal with the fallout. Which would probably just be Cass punching someone who hopefully wasn’t Kate.

They had shitty coping mechanisms. Feeling like shit? Punch someone. Feel great? Punch someone. 

Ugh, no wonder Dinah wanted to give them all therapy. Kate would go, but well. She hadn’t found the time just yet. 


End file.
